And Dim Some

Eating in Hong Kong is [mostly] amazing. The first day we were here, two business contacts of Rita’s took us for authentic, I-can’t-read-the-Chinese-menu Dim Sum. Dim Sum is a lot like tapas…only with a higher frequency of brain, stomach or tongue. And they wrap the protein in a dumpling, so you’re never quite sure what you’re being served [Dim Sum roulette].

At Dim Sum, each dish is a “snack” with about four pieces of whatever has been ordered. I think the boys who hosted us were surprised that the big girls from America could go through 17 courses [I said it was a snack]. But our Dim Sum lunch IS where we had the unfortunate cow’s-stomach-soup incident [see…only sixteen courses when you exclude the not-very-popular soup]. I knew we were in trouble when one of our hosts laughed as they placed it on the table. A good rule of thumb is to avoid any selection that amuses the people that can actually read the menu.

Now…I’m not very fond of soup in the first place…and even less fond of soup with floaty-brown-sponge things in it. I did, however, think we had to be polite and try everything that our hosts provided [watching Rita – I would later find there were limits to that rule] – so I had a few bites of the floaty brown thingys. It tastes like chicken. Actually, I have no idea how it tastes because Hong Kong is where I have learned to eat without chewing.

The REST of the Dim Sum, of course, was harmless and delicious. But barely prepared us for the seafood dinner later that night…